Charity's Angel Read Online Free PDF Page A

anybody."
    "The guy came barrelin' outta there like a freight train. What was I supposed to do? Ask him to tea?" This voice was older, a little guttural.
    "Shut up, both of you." There was a certain crisp-ness to the third voice, a tone that said he expected to be obeyed. Gabe immediately pegged him as the leader.
    "But, Sal, look what Joe did." That was the young one, whiny and scared.
    "Shut up!"
    Outside, the sirens had screamed to a halt in front and in back of the store. Gabe already knew the back door was useless. A desk and a couple of office chairs crowded the narrow hallway in front of it. Maybe they'd just redone the office and hadn't had a chance to get rid of the old furniture yet. Maybe the owner was just careless. Whatever the reason, the back door was effectively blocked.
    In a crouch Gabe crept forward, halting at the end of the case, unwilling to risk crossing the gap between it and the next case. He could hear car doors slam outside. There was a vague murmur that told him the stores on either side of Hoffman's were being evacuated, the employees and customers taken out the back doors, herded into the safety of the parking lot.
    "Sal, there's cops all over the place." That was the nervous one again. Gabe marked him in his mind. Nervous people with guns were one of his least favorite things. If someone was going to go off half-cocked and start trouble, it was likely to be the nervous one. Or, obviously, the one who'd already shot the guy who'd come barreling out of the back room.
    "That man is bleeding. He needs medical attention." The calm feminine tone was like a drink of cool water. Gabe recognized the voice of the little clerk with the big green eyes, sounding just as cool as if she were asking whether they'd like to pay by check or credit card.
    "Let him bleed." That was Joe, the one who'd fired the shot. "Sonofabitch shouldn't'a come out shouting like that."
    "I'd like to put a pressure pad on his wound," she said, ignoring the comment. Gabe didn't doubt that she was addressing Sal. "If he dies, it will be murder."
    There was a moment's frozen silence while the three would-be robbers absorbed this piece of information. Gabe's fingers tightened on the gun. She was taking a risk, pushing like that. The nervous one and the guy who'd fired the shot both sounded tense.
    "See what you can do for him," Sal ordered roughly.
    They all seemed to be at the front of the store. Gabe's fingers tightened around the gun as he eased forward until he could look through the gap between the two cases. The wounded man lay directly in front of him. Blood had stained the front of his jacket. Probably not as bad as it looked, Gabe thought. There wasn't enough blood for the bullet to have hit an artery—didn't look as if he was in any danger of bleeding to death.
    He slid back out of sight as the girl came into view. What was her name? Chastity? No, but it was something with an old-fashioned ring to it. Charity. That was it. Charity.
    Why hadn't he asked her out before this? It would have been nice to have a better feel for how she was going to react in this situation. She seemed calm so far.
    He heard the soft scuff of her shoes on the carpet as she approached the wounded man. Leaning his head back against the case, he debated his next move. She had probably forgotten that he was here. Was it smart to remind her? On the other hand, it might be helpful to have an ally.
    Drawing a shallow breath, Gabe eased his head around the edge of the case.. .and looked directly into Charity's wide green eyes. She didn't look in the least surprised. She hadn't forgotten him for a minute.
    "Anybody else in the back?" Sal's question was so perfectly timed, he might have been following a script.
    Without so much as a flicker of an eyelash, Charity answered. "No. There's no one else in back."
    "Check it out, Billy."
    "Me? What if there's cops back there?" Billy asked nervously.
    "If there were cops back there, we'd have been looking down the